Testing
by Draco-Hermy
Summary: Astoria Greengrass is WAY in over her head with her O.W.L.s, especially when dating Draco Malfoy at the same time. Crazy thoughts, crazy studying, crazy times all around. Credit to AmarantineBlack at DeviantART for the cover image.


**A/N: Hey, guys! I entered a challenge called Opposite Day and was given the pairing Draco/Astoria to write. Also, I entered the something... wrong... competition and now I have to write a story about standardized tests. So. I'm combining. I wrote Trouble a while ago, which is Drastoria, and I loved it so much that I'm continuing it. But you don't have to read Trouble to understand this. I think you can get the gist.**

Astoria and Draco had been dating for the entire school year. Or, well, since the first Hogsmeade trip of the year, anyway. It had been wonderful. Draco had proved again and again that he no longer cared about Hermione Granger, which Astoria was grateful for.

She'd been so happy this year. Even the preparation for her O.W.L.s hadn't gotten her down. It had seemed so far away from the end of the year. But now the June was closing in on her, she was starting to panic.

Astoria had never been the greatest student. She was fine in all of her classes, but it wasn't like she excelled. She had never needed help on her homework before, but now that the teachers were prepping for the tests, she felt like she was drowning in the work.

She would have asked Draco for help, since he was brilliant and more than ready to tutor her, but he was in seventh year (well, eighth technically) and studying even harder than Astoria, getting ready for the N.E.W.T. tests.

O.W.L.s started the next day, and Astoria was freaking out. She didn't have any homework, but studying would take up her entire day, even without any classes. Sunday was supposed to be her one day of break every week where she could talk to Draco. It shouldn't have been hard since they were in the same house.

But it was impossible. There were study groups to attend to, library books to read, practice essays to write. And that was just for the fifth years. Astoria couldn't imagine what it was like for Draco. His entire future rested on these tests. If he really wanted to become an Unspeakable, he was going to have to get O's on all of his exams.

As did Astoria. She desperately wanted to be an Auror, more than anything in the world, and even though she was two years away from graduating, if she didn't get Exceeds Expectations or more in all of her classes, she was doomed.

She didn't understand why students' futures had to rest on one exam per class. Couldn't the Ministry of Magic just look at students' overall scores for their classes and base their decisions off of that? But no, that wouldn't solve Astoria's problem either. She was mediocre at best in her classes, definitely not Outstanding material. If she wanted to ace her O.W.L.s, she was going to have to immerse herself completely in her studying.

So she did. For the entirety of Sunday, Astoria read her textbooks from cover to cover. She picked up additional material on the tests she was going to have the next day, for Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts. There were loads of books in the library about those subjects, and Astoria was determined to learn everything there was to know about them. Her teachers had offered help to the manic students, but some of the other idiots refused to leave the common room.

Astoria all but ran to the Defense classroom. Charms was important, yes, but to Aurors, she knew DADA would be more useful. She burst into the classroom to see Professor Nilworth sitting on a students' desk, legs crossed, flipping through some textbooks she'd left around the classroom.

"Professor!" Astoria said, bursting in.

Nilworth looked up, unsurprised. "Hello, Miss Greengrass. I assume you're here to get help with your O.W.L.s?"

"Yes, please. If there's anything you can do to help me, it would be amazing."

"Sit down." Nilworth gestured to a desk nearby. Astoria sat. Nilworth paused for a moment, and Astoria couldn't help but think that she was wasting precious study time by staying here.

"Do you have-" Astoria asked Nilworth.

"You need to calm down for a moment," she said. Astoria blinked.

"What?"

"I've seen you kids running around the castle, frantically trying to find material to study. And some of you need it. But Astoria, I really think you're entirely prepared for your exam tomorrow. At least in DADA."

Astoria gaped. "I've never gotten anything above Exceeds Expectations in your class, Professor."

"And sometimes that's all you need. Of course, I'm not saying that you shouldn't study or try to be the best you can be. But if you're going to stay up all night studying something you already know, I really must put a stop to it."

"That's just it, Professor. I _don't_ know all of this. I have no idea what questions these exams will have. I need to learn it all." Astoria was desperate, waiting for some kind of good advice to come out of this seemingly useless venture to the classroom.

"You are perfectly capable of getting an Outstanding on your Defense O.W.L. I know you've been getting Exceeds Expectations, but that's because you're trying to finish the tests you've been taking in my class extremely quickly. You're done before anyone else reaches the halfway mark. You know the material."

Astoria bit her lip. Nilworth was right. She _was_ done way before everyone else in class. Maybe she could slow down during the O.W.L.

"Thanks," she said, and fled back to the common room.

When Astoria reached her familiar spot with all her supplies, she noticed in shock that she was not alone. Draco was sitting next to the fire, his head buried in a book. Maybe this was her chance to talk to him. They'd barely seen each other at all for the past month.

She walked over to him. "Draco!" she said, and hugged him. He drew away quickly.

"You made me drop my book, Astoria," he said, his brows furrowed in annoyance.

"Oh! Sorry," she said, and bent over to give it back. The second he had it in his hands, he began reading again. He wasn't even going to say hello?

Something weird was happening. "Draco?" she asked. He looked up impatiently.

"What?"

She leaned in and quickly kissed him, trying to draw it out a little, but he pulled away again. "Look," he said, "I really have to study. I'd appreciate it if we could leave this sort of thing until the end of this week."

Astoria narrowed her eyes. He couldn't even break for a minute to kiss her? He wasn't going to miss _that_ much studying if he did. She felt insulted. She knew she shouldn't, what with all of these tests and things going on, that Draco was only being short with her because he was tired, but she couldn't let it go. _She_ hadn't forgotten that a few seconds away from a book was okay.

She grabbed her things and walked to the library, intending to study where she wouldn't be able to see Draco and be distracted. But he kept swimming into her mind. He _had_ been a little withdrawn lately, and not just because of studying. She remembered the last Hogsmeade trip they'd had, a month ago.

All of the students had been clamoring to go, because it was the last trip of the year, and everything in Hogsmeade was going to be on sale. There was no homework for a change, so Astoria was fine with taking a detour to go. But Draco insisted on staying behind. She hadn't thought much of it at the time, believing it to be something with the N.E.W.T.s, but now that she thought about it, almost every other seventh year had been in Hogsmeade as well.

Almost.

_No, Astoria, you can't go there._ She couldn't let herself think about Hermione Granger. Draco was done with her. That was final.

_But_, a little voice in the back of her head said,_ you heard Ron complaining about Hermione being distant not two weeks ago!_ This was true. She'd been in the library just like she was now, studying, when she heard Ron Weasley and Harry Potter come in, talking about Ron's girlfriend. Apparently, she'd been nowhere to be found that entire day, and they were checking the library as a last resort. They'd been desperate enough to walk up to Astoria and ask if she'd seen Hermione.

But that was just stupid. Hermione couldn't have been back with Draco. It just wouldn't make any sense. Draco had gone out of his way lately to assure Astoria that he never even thought about Hermione anymore. It had been a little odd, though, since she hadn't even asked him about it. But she'd had a pensive look on her face, so maybe Draco had thought she'd been worried.

Though, that led to the question of _why_ he thought she'd been worried. She had nothing to worry about! She knew he wouldn't go back to Granger. Especially since she seemed so happy with Ron. Maybe Draco had been seeing her and thought Astoria was getting suspicious.

Okay, now she was just being crazy. Of course Draco wasn't seeing Hermione. Hadn't he just told Astoria last month that he loved her? Hadn't she heard rumors of Hermione and Ron getting married once they graduated? Hadn't Astoria's dorm mates being cooing over how cute she was with Draco? She had nothing to worry about!

Astoria slammed her book down on the table, making her peers in the library jump. She was getting nowhere with studying here. She was only distracting herself more. She needed to confront Draco about this, now, or she was never going to focus on her exam.

Not bothering to take her books with her, Astoria flew back to the common room, grabbed Draco, and pulled him into the hallway.

"Bloody hell, Astoria, what is this about? I need to study!"

"You can take a break for a damn five minutes, I need to talk to." He blinked in surprise at her angry tone.

"About what?"

"Are you seeing Hermione Granger again?" she asked, not wanting to beat around the bush. She wasn't good at it.

He gaped. "What?"

"Answer the question."

"Astoria, of course I'm not seeing Hermione. Where would you get that idea?"

She felt her cheeks heat up. "Because you're being distant with me, and I heard that Hermione's doing the same with Ron!"

Draco hugged her. "Astoria, I promise, there's nothing going on. I'm just really stressed with studying. And I'm sure you are as well. Your O.W.L. studying as well as your Prefect duties must be killing you."

She nodded. "I suppose you're right."

"Now, I have to patrol in a few minutes since I'm Head Boy, but we can talk later, can't we?"

"Of course." She had to patrol as well. Draco smiled and went back into the common room. Astoria sat outside for a moment, gathering her thoughts.

How could she have been so stupid? Her thoughts were getting muddled with these dumb tests. She went back to her dorm to change and get ready for her patrol.

The next day at breakfast, the entirety of the fifth and seventh years at Hogwarts had their noses buried in books. But it wasn't completely silent from those people, like one might expect. They were screaming spells at each other, asking each other test questions, asking for random food items that they knew they wouldn't taste.

Draco sat down next to Astoria, who was currently attempting to Summon random things from around the room. She had odd items lying around her, and Draco had to push some aside to actually take a seat.

"Morning, sunshine," he said to Astoria, who was scowling.

"Accio candle! Accio! _Accio!_ Ugh, this isn't working," she said, turning to her boyfriend.

Draco calmly flicked his wrist, and the candle zoomed into his hand.

"I hate you," she said.

He smirked. "That's probably not good, considering I was going to kiss you for good luck before you go to your O.W.L."

She smiled and pecked him on the lips. "Great. Now, tell me how you just did that."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Fine. You just have to concentrate."

"I _am_ concentrating! It's the only thing I'm thinking about."

"You're stressing yourself out, Astoria. Just calm down a little bit and it should be fine."

"I'm perfectly calm. I don't know what you're talking about," she said, knocking over her glass while gesturing wildly at him. She quickly righted it.

"Eat your food."

"I've eaten!" Her plate hadn't been touched. Draco raised his eyebrows. "Oh, fine." She stuffed a roll in her mouth, chewed for a few seconds, and swallowed. "There."

Draco threw up his hands. "Fine! I won't help you."

"That's okay, I think I've got it under control."

Draco rolled his eyes again and kissed her, then went to sit next to his friends.

Ten minutes later, Astoria was sitting in a chamber outside of the Great Hall, waiting to be called in to take her Charms test. She was vaguely aware of her friends trying to talk to her, but her mind was racing, going over incantations and origins of spells and different wand movements associated with different charms. She simply could not afford not to ace this O.W.L.

Finally, her name was called and she filed into the Great Hall. Astoria sat down at a desk to take the paper version of the test. It was five pages long. Five pages, one-sided each. How could half of her entire Charms exam rest on five pieces of paper? It was insanity.

She got through it by thinking of Professor Nilworth, how she had said to take her time with the tests. Granted, she'd been talking about the DADA exam, but Astoria was pretty sure it applied to Charms as well. She finished the paper in ten minutes, but went over it for twice as long, finding all of her errors. By the time she handed it in, Astoria was feeling pretty confident.

Next came the practical part of the O.W.L. Some tiny wizard told her to do a simple Levitating spell. She knew this like the end of her wand, and did it easily, along with a few other Charms. But then he asked her to Summon a textbook from the other side of the Great Hall.

Astoria gulped.

She gripped her wand and emptied her mind, thinking only of Summoning Charms and her textbook. But she knew it wasn't going to work. There was just something telling her that it wouldn't. Draco, specifically. She decided that, well, she'd already taken Nilworth's advice today and it had seemed to work out, so she might as well take her boyfriend's advice, too.

Astoria took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and said, "Accio book!" For one horrible moment, she thought it hadn't worked. But then she opened her eyes and saw the book zooming toward her head. She was so elated, she didn't care that it hit her eye, though the little wizard was mightily concerned.

It had worked! She'd done it! She couldn't wait to tell Draco. Once she was let out of the Great Hall, she ran to the common room. But of course, Draco was still taking his N.E.W.T.S. somewhere else in the castle, and the other students were in class, taking their own exams. She was alone in the common room for a few moments until her classmates appeared.

For about an hour, they all chattered about how they thought they did, and what they thought they'd get, and on a scale of one to ten, how attractive were their testers? Astoria thought she'd die of anxiety.

And then the seventh years were pouring into the common room. Astoria looked up and frantically searched for Draco. She didn't see him immediately. Had something happened? But no, he was at the back. She all but jumped him.

"Whoa. What's going on?" he asked, laughing.

"How did you do?" she asked, breathless, despite the fact that she'd done absolutely nothing but sit around for an hour.

"I think I did well. Got confused on a couple questions, but not enough for it to be a problem, I don't think."

"Draco, I really think I aced it."

"Really? That's wonderful, Astoria!" And it was true. She'd been so careful. The only thing that concerned her now was the ungraceful ending to her Summoning spell. She'd done it correctly, but the wizard might have taken off points for it hitting her in the head.

She forced herself to stop thinking about it. What would come would come.

The rest of the days passed fairly quickly, and before Astoria knew it, all of her exams were finished and it was the last day of school. She felt pretty confident about all of them. They'd been extremely hard, but she'd forced herself to slow down and think about what she was doing. She was pretty sure she'd done well.

When Astoria got home, she waited in agony for the results. Oh, she pretended to be fine in front of her parents, but she vented to her sister, who was feeling the same pressures she was. Daphne was the same age as Draco, so she'd taken her N.E.W.T.S. this year, and she was just as anxious about the test results.

Finally, a month after school had ended, two owls came in the mail. They were fairly similar, and each had a little band with the Ministry of Magic seal strapped around their legs. They were each carrying one letter, one addressed to Astoria and one to Daphne.

Luckily, Astoria was in the kitchen when the owls came, and she was alone. She wanted to tear open the envelope right at that moment, but she knew it would be better to do it with her sister by her side. So she called Daphne down and they opened their letters together, away from their parents.

Astoria bit her lip as she unfolded the letter. It was made of very expensive parchment, which only increased the feeling that this was something important. She looked at the list.

Defense Against the Dark Arts: Outstanding

Charms: Outstanding

Divination: Exceeds Expectations

Potions: Outstanding

Transfiguration: Outstanding

Muggle Studies: Outstanding

History of Magic: Outstanding

Arithmancy: Exceeds Expectations

Six Outstandings and two Exceeds Expectations. And one was in Divination, which Astoria hadn't cared about anyway. She'd gotten unlucky and been stuck with Trelawney instead of Firenze, who she'd wanted. Anyway. Arithmancy was Exceeds Expectations as well, but she'd barely understood that subject, so she was glad she'd done that well. Plus, Arithmancy wasn't a required subject for being an Auror, so it didn't matter, really.

She was tremendously excited that she'd gotten O's in everything else. She squealed and showed Daphne her paper. Her sister hugged her.

"That's amazing, Tori!" she said, and showed Astoria her own results. Daphne had gotten an O in every single subject. Even Divination. Astoria's jaw dropped.

"Oh, my God, Daphne. You completely aced your N.E.W.T.S. You actually did it!"

"We have to show Mum and Dad our results," Daphne said, and grabbed Astoria's hand. They raced off to tell their parents, who were understandably excited at their daughters' success.

Before the family went out to celebrate (which they didn't do much, but this was a special occasion), Astoria duplicated her results and sent them off with the family owl.

Draco Malfoy was celebrating with his mother about the fact that he'd gotten O's in everything but History of Magic. But he didn't know how he was expected to pay attention to Binns. The ghost was monotonous.

An owl flew into the foyer, startling him and his mother. It dropped a letter in Draco's lap and landed on the couch. Draco furrowed his eyebrows at the bird and tore into the letter. It was a copy of Astoria's O.W.L. results with a note.

The note was only two words. _Thank you._

**A/N: Hey, guys :) I wasn't sure how to end this at first, but I think I did okay. Tell me what you think in a review. It would be greatly appreciated!**


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